Mystical Creatures of Ancient China

Award-winning illustrator Lin Hai reimagines China’s oldest mythological encyclopaedia dating from the Zhou dynasty, the Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), through 100 vibrant, playful artworks accompanied by notes and cultural stories. Blending traditional aesthetics with modern charm, Lin Hai has transformed the original ancient legends into amusing, visually stunning characters – from fluffy mountain guardians to mischievous sea spirits.

With chapters covering the mountains, seas and distant lands described in the Shan Hai Jing, a picture begins to emerge of a magical world where trees, plants, minerals and creatures hold great medicinal and supernatural value. While such things that have long held importance over millennia in China have lost much of their significance today, Lin Hai’s Mystical Creatures of Ancient China brings them alive once more, inspiring an appreciation for our vast and diverse world, and all that lives in it.